Place: Fort Adams in Newport Rhode Island.
Hal Brindley and Steve Buddendeck ran the BMX events.
Matt Hoffman on the cover of Ride BMX october 1995.
Leigh Ramsdell. Photo by Brad McDonald.
Todd Lyons: One Jump Check out the one jump madness! Yeah, that’s right. Pedal down the roll-in and sprint across the field and blast that ONE jump! That’s how it all began at the first ever “Extreme Games.”
Dave Mirra on the cover of Orgasmic toaster issue 9.
www.ridebmx.com, july 2006: The start of it all … The Extreme Games in 1995 was a complete circus. Bungee jumping kayakers, a vert ramp with sand mixed into the paint for traction (whose bright idea was that?), downhill luge races, and a bunch of other wacky things including these helmet add-ons. Leigh Ramsdell cashes in with some horns and a Mohawk that Sesame Street’s Bert would be proud of. Photo by Brad McDonald
Todd Lyons journal, 1995: I woke up feeling shitty. We went to Fort Adams and rode the street course. The “Extreme” Jumping Contest started at 8pm. I qualified 4th and the got 5th in the finals. I won $350. 1st- Jay Miron, 2nd-Taj Mihelic, 3rd- Jimmy Garcia, 4th- Jimmy Levan. They showed some of the contest LIVE on TV! Some really dope girl (Amy) was in the stands and wanted to meet me. So I talked to her and then went with her and her friend took me back to the dorms after the contest. We hung out there and drank in our room. A bunch of other riders were in my dorm as well. All the riders finally left and the girls stayed. Then I went and got Robbie Morales and he hooked up with Amy’s friend and I was down with Amy a bit. They had to leave at 1:30am, so they dropped us off at another party on their way out. We got there right when it was ending. We stole a bunch of beer and left. Came back and we messed with security and they chased us up a tree. It was a good fun night!
DIRT RESULTS: 1.Jay Miron (Schwinn) 2.Taj Mihelich (HB) 3.Joey Garcia (Schwinn) 4.Jimmy Levan (SM) 5.Todd Lyons (Haro) 6.Jody Donnely (Bully) 7.Van Stout (TNT) 8.Brennan Brown (Standard)
Jay Miron, Ride BMX US november 1995: VERT was HYPED UP ALL weekend AS THE MOST EXTREME thing. It was TO THE POINT where THE ANNOUNCER would SAY THINGS LIKE, "YEAH, THESE SKATERS ARE GOOD, BUT wait TILL YOU SEE THOSE BIKERS." while ANNOUNCING A SKATE CONTEST. THAT'S JUST PLAIN rude. ANYMAY, THE CONTEST did seemed destined TO BE ONE of THE GREATEST EVER, ESPECIALLY with ALL THE PROS IN attendance and A HUGE PURSE, ALTHOUGH SOME of THE CRAZIEST TRICKS EVER PULLED OFF, THERE didn't QUITE SEEM TO BE AS MUCH ENERGY AS EXPECTED. IT MIGHT HAVE HAD SOMETHINS TO DO with THE crowd NOT FULLY UNDERSTANDING wHAT THEY MERE SEEING. NONETHELESS, VERT was STILL PROBABLY THE MOST TALKEd ABOUT event of THE ENTIRE week and EXTREMELY EXTREME.
Dennis McCoy was incredible on vert with huge airs and a 900 in his last run. DMC was definitely one of the most popular riders with the crowd, and plenty of booing was heard when they announced he had only received 4th place.
VERT RESULTS: 1.Matt Hoffman (HB) 2.Dave Mirra (Haro) 3.Jay Miron (Schwinn) 4.Dennis McCoy (Mongoose) 5.John Parker (GT) 6.Rick Thorne (HB) 7.Pat Miller (GT) 8.Kevin Robinson (SE)
Todd Lyons, www.toddlyons.com, 2007: Did you know that the X-Games were originally called the “Extreme Games?” This was the first one that they ever had. None of us knew what to expect. I remember that some guys got invited (like Brian Foster and Matt Pohlkamp) and they didn’t even show up! The dirt contest was on a Tuesday night, so I flew in on Sunday night after a race in Waterford. MI and then flew out on Thursday to another race in Evansville, IN.
What was so cool about the first couple of “Extreme Games” is that ESPN put ALL of the athletes in the local dorms. So we would all get together every night and go out and cause trouble. They would typically have parties for us in the local clubs as well. Keep in mind that first place was $5,000, not $50,000 like nowadays. And it wasn’t so much of a TV spectacle as it is now. So everything was more relaxed and there weren’t security guards everywhere at the contest and it was even free for people to come in and watch.
Ahh, nothing like “a dope girl in the stands” wanting to meet me! Too bad I had to leave the next day for a race in Evansville. Kennan Harkin was quick to inform me later that he swooped in on her the next night. Oh wells, that’s the life of a BMXer.
Check out an excerpt from my journal entry from the night before: “…Then all of us went out to some club. I got kicked out for stealing beer from behind the bar. But I snuck back in. Later, Dave Mirra got in a fight with a bouncer and I jumped in & got carried out with everyone else. Then when we were out in front of the club, we started acting silly. We were doing some “Extreme” pissing on the club entrance. As we were leaving, the cops just pulled up. But we were out of there. Good timing.”
Man, how much trouble did we cause back in the day!? It’s safe to say that nowadays you won’t see Dave Mirra fighting bouncers at the X-Games parties. And you won’t see me pissing on the front door of nightclubs. Man, I can’t believe none of us ever got arrested! Dave and I were teammates on Haro at the time. Oh, and I ALWAYS used to try to steal beer from bars back in the day.
One thing to note at this first “Extreme Games” is that there was no BMX street contest. Only skate street & Rollerblade street. I’m not quite sure how that happened.